Silo.



F. W. CRONEMEYER.

SILO. 1

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8. 1914.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

, INVE/VTUR fif fiid 2' 4 Cmnemgyer FREDERICK W. CRONEIVIEYER, 0F TONGANOXIE, KANSAS, ASSIGNGR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO TUNG LOK SILO DAKOTA.

AND TANK CQMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF SOUTH SILO.

Application filed June 8, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. CRoNE- MEYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tonganoxie, in the county of Leavenworth and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Silos, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to silos and more especially to that class of silos provided with parts which constitute steps by which the silo may be climbed, and hinge supports for the doors controlling access to the silo in different vertical planes, and my object is to produce a simple, strong, durable and ef ficient device having the attributes mentioned and which will utilize the door as a tapered plug to close the door opening and thereby eliminate the necessity of provid- 11 g any other means for fastening the door in closed position than the accumulated ensilage in the silo.

With the object named in view, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1, is a horizontal section of a portion of a silo on the line II of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2, is an elevation of a portion of the silo and one of the doors and door supports thereof.

In the said drawings, 1 indicates the wall. of the silo made up'of horizontal strips secured in superposed relation as shown or made in any other suitable manner, and said silo at suitable intervals is provided with a door opening 2, the sides of the door opening converging forwardly as shown at 3, to afford stops for the door, which is of plug shape, that is to say, its side edges are beveled forwardly at an angle corresponding to that of the sides 3 of the door opening. The upper and lower sides of the opening and the corresponding edges of the door are preferably horizontal.

Secured to the outer side of the silo and door in the same horizontal planes are hinge members 5 and 6, members 5 being preferably of the strap type and each secured rigidly to the silo by a pair of bolts 7 and nuts 8. The hinge members 6 are preferably on the order of bearing caps and are Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

Serial No. 843,632.

each secured to the door by bolts 9 and nuts 10.

A frame which constitutes a link member for the hinge members 5 and 6 for the support of the door and forms steps or rungs of a ladder is made from a single rod bent to form a pair of vertical pivots 11 and 12, the ends of the rod preferably being lapjointed and welded together at some point along the length of one of the pivots to give said pivot the greatest possible strength.

The upper and lower endsof the pivots are respectively connected together by por tions which are substantially U-shaped in plan view, the bridge portions 13 of the U- shaped portions terminating in oppositely bowed arms 14 integrally united with pivot 11 and arms 15, the latter being bent reversely to form inwardly bowed portions 16 integrally united to the upper and lower ends of the pivot 12.

When the door is closed as shown in full lines Fig. 1, the portions 13 are disposed a substantial distance outward from the silo and constitute rungs or steps of a ladder whereby one may ascend to any desired height on the silo.

hen it isdesired to open'the door it is pressed inward to dislodge it inwardly from opening 2, the door necessarily having a slight pivotal action on pivot 12 because the latter swings concentrically inward around pivot 11, the bowed portions 14 being of such size that the door can describe almost a semi-circle in its opening movement. The reversely bowed portions 16 permit the door to swing relatively outward on pivot 12 until the outer side of the door strikes the outwardly bowed portions 15 as indicated by dotted lines Fig. 1, in which position the door can be swung completely away from the opening 2 and yet by contact with said bowed portions 15 is held in such position that when thesteps or rungs are grasped to impart closing movement to the door, it will positively insure the proper closure of the door, that is .to say it will hold the door in such position that its right hand side will come in contact with the corresponding side of the door opening whereas without the bowed portions 15, the door might swing in the direction indicated by the arrow on pivot 12 a sufiicient distance to permit it to be swung clear through the door opening as there is nothing to prevent it passing edgewise through the door opening if it could swing in the direction indicated by said arrow a sufficient distance for its right hand end to clear the right hand side of the door opening. Such swinging action is objectionable because if it occurred accidentally, it might cause the operator standing on a lower rung to lose his balance and fall from the ladder.

It will be noted that the weight of the door rests chiefly on the upper hinge member 5 and the lower diagonally opposite hinge member 6, and that the continuous pivot rods 11 and 12 in conjunction with the other hinge members 5 and 6-what may be termed the guide membersprovide a support that will not let the door sag, the lower U-shaped portion lying below the lower hinge members. It will also be observed that because the lower U-shaped portion lies below said lower hinge members it is necessary to anchor it securely to guard against yielding under the weight of a person standing upon it, and this is done by welding or otherwise securing the ends of the rod together so that weight imposed upon the lower of each pair of integrally formed steps, shall be sustained by the two upper hinge members, the two lower ones cooperating by the friction they offer to downward movement of the parts therein.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a silo embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and I wish it to be understood that while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of the same, I reserve the right to make all changes falling within thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A silo provided with a door opening having outwardly converging side walls, a

Copies of this patent may be obtained for door fitting snugly in said opening, a pair of vertically alined hinge members secured to the outer side of th silo near one side of the door opening, a pair of vertically alined hinge members secured to the outer side of the door near the side of the same most remote from the first-named hinge members, and a pivot frame, comprising vertical pivots engaging the vertically alined hinge members and substantially U shaped portions connecting the upper ends of said pivots together and the lower ends of said pivots together respectively; the arms or legs of the U-shaped portions connected to the pivot on the door being bowed outwardly to limit such pivotal movement of the door when being closed as would permit the edge of the door adjacent the hinge member carried thereby to swing clear through the door opening.

2. A silo provided with a door opening, a door, a pair of vertically alined hinge members secured to the silo at one side of the said opening, a pair of vertically alined hinge-members secured to the door, and a continuous or unbroken frame or link connecting the hinge-members, comprising a pair of vertical pivots extending respectively through the vertically-alined hingemembers, and substantially U-shaped portions integrally formed with the pivots, one of the U-shaped portions connecting the upper extremities of the pivots and resting on the upper hinge members and the other U-shaped portion connecting the lower ends of the pivots below the lower hinge members.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK W. CRONEMEYER five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

